Mark Robins admits he doesn’t yet know if international duo Kasey Palmer and Joel Latibeaudiere will be fit to play in Coventry City’s match at Hull on Friday night.
The pair have been away with Jamaica and played two games over the international break, the last of which was as recently as Wednesday in Kingston when Palmer featured for the full 90 minutes and Latibeaudiere for just over an hour.
The switching of the Championship fixture to Friday – due to the MKM Stadium being used for the city’s rugby league side fixture on Saturday – has not helped the Sky Blues ’ preparations, with the City pair only landing back in the UK from their long-haul trip on Thursday morning. Robins’ squad was due to travel this afternoon (Thurs) and is staying overnight ahead of Friday’s match.
It’s not known if Palmer and Latibeaudiere will be on the coach or join up with the group later tonight or even tomorrow morning.
READ: Coventry City boss Mark Robins gives injury update ahead of Hull trip
READ: 'Guts' - Former Coventry City boss on 'late start' and pushing for promotion
Asked about obvious concerns with jet-lag and fatigue, Robins told CoventryLive: “What it is is I’ve just got to see how they are. It’s just as simple as that. So without going into any detail – and I will talk to you about it at some point – but I’m looking to get the players out (for training) tomorrow and whoever’s selected, you will know if they're ready to go. And it will be in a difficult game because they’re a good side.”
Asked if they’ll be back in time to make the coach or whether they’ll be sent home to get a good night’s sleep before joining in the morning, Robins said: “There’s a specific plan for them and we need to do that. Obviously you don’t lump everybody in the same and you don’t treat everybody the same because obviously they’ve had a different experience. And it’s different for them coming from a different time zone.
“So yeah, there’s a lot of work gone into that and the preparation and planning for how they’ve travelled back and what they do from now until kick-off.”
He added: “I’ll probably be able to share a little bit more after the game but you know, ultimately, there’s a lot of things to take into consideration, that’s for sure. But yeah, if the game was on Saturday there would be little to no real issue. But there is certainly a consideration to be made and discussions to be had and then obviously we’ve got our preparation to do today.”
